Infiniti’s new design direction has a “good news and bad news” quality. The good news is that the dog-leg rear pillar is being retired. Automotive News reporter Hans Greimel (2020) recently wrote that the reason for the change was to improve visibility.
Eh. I suspect that the overriding reason for ditching what was officially called the “crescent cut” was its ugliness. As a case in point, take a look at the Infiniti QX60 shown above. It may not have been the most outrageous example of french curves gone wild, but it’s within the ballpark. Here is another example.
Musical chairs in design staffs lead to conformity
The bad news is that Infiniti’s new Global Design Chief Taisuke Nakamura seems to be playing follow the leader. A concept car called the QX60 Monograph has a “floating roof.” This is a design fad that has swept through the auto industry.
Welcome to another example of increasingly conformist auto design. Peter DeLorenzo (2020) recently complained that this trend was partly a product of design schools (go here for further discussion). The Automotive News article illustrates a related factor — the rapid movement of design talent between automakers.
Greimel (2020) noted that “Nakamura took the reins of Infiniti design last year following the departure of Karim Habib. Habib, whom Infiniti poached from BMW, led the brand for barely two years before he left to become global design chief at Kia Motors Corp. shortly after the management shakeup that followed the arrest of Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn.”
How on Earth can an individual brand maintain a stable and distinctive look when the industry constantly plays musical chairs with its design staff?
Mercedes-Benz once championed design consistency
Automotive history can offer a useful lesson. Some of the best design languages of the postwar period came from automakers with long-serving design chiefs who placed an emphasis on styling continuity.
For example, Paul Bracq was the design chief for Mercedes-Benz for a decade. During that time he oversaw the development of classics such as the pagoda-roofed SL roadster, the W114/115 mid-sized cars, the large W108/109 and the 600 luxury sedans (Wikipedia, 2020).
Bracq did an exceptional job of updating the Mercedes look while grounding it in the automaker’s history. As a result, in the 1960s and 1970s you couldn’t mistake a Mercedes for any other car on road.
Also see ‘Mercedes-Benz W123: Back when form really did follow function’
What brand can say that today? Consider Infiniti. Its dog leg certainly stands out, but it has no link to the brand’s past. The dog leg was just another stylistic fad along life’s highway. And if the QX60 concept car is any indication, the new design language will not connect much with Infiniti’s past nor be very distinctive.
How soon will it be until another round of staffing changes result in a “new” design direction for Infiniti . . . whose time comes and goes all too quickly?
NOTES:
This is an updated and expanded version of a story originally posted December 10, 2014.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- DeLorenzo, Peter; 2020. “We Have Reached the Nadir of Design. And it Ain’t Pretty.” Auto Extremist. Posted September 28; accessed September 29.
- Greimel, Hans; 2020. “New Infiniti designer makes mark.” Automotive News (subscription required). Posted October 12; accessed October 20.
- Wikipedia; 2020. “Paul Bracq.” Page last edited May 1; accessed October 20.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES
- wildaboutcarsonline.com: (Automotive History Preservation Society): Mercedes-Benz 230 SL (1966)
Be the first to comment